Scare
by legendarytobes
Summary: AU - Third story in the Crusade 'Verse. An experiment with a toxic bacteria unleashes everyone's nightmares and jeopardizes Kal-El's relationship with Chloe and Martha and puts even more stress on his interactions with Jonathan Kent.
1. Chapter 1

1

Chloe watched. That wasn't her typical job description. She was a reporter and she usually asked questions, prodded until she found the hidden angles and motivations. But today was different. Today she was off-duty and her attention was directed to the unusual scene before her. Unusual was a qualified term when you were a (possibly) immortal mutant and you were kind of engaged to an alien. However, their lives had settled into as normal a rhythm as possible. By day, they went to Smallville High School and were still in a battle to see who was going to be Valedictorian (Kal-El was ahead but mainly because of his gift for math). At night, things were very different. They shared a penthouse in Metropolis and Chloe spent late nights there, often waiting for Kal-El to come back from patrol. He'd offered to take her as well. Her powers might be even more useful than his, considering that she could heal almost any illness, including extraterrestrial comas.

Still, she hesitated on that.

Even after seven months of know what she was and what she could do, Chloe didn't want to embrace it. She was still waiting for her own fall into insanity and ensuing rampage. At least Kal-El would be around to stop her if that ever happened. Chloe smiled slyly at the sight before her. Kal-El had arranged for Martha Kent to be added on as a consultant for Dr. Swann. The official title was something more innocuous, rhetoric devised to account for the fact that a housewife from Kansas wasn't supposed to be able to offer any deep insight to one of the smartest men on the planet. But it was part of Kal-El's conciliatory gestures. He'd already arranged for a stipend, for enough money to hire hands to make up for the loss of his abilities around the farm. He'd gone one step further, however, ensuring that his mother was afforded something more, something to help compensate for the son she'd lost and the boredom of farm life.

Mrs. Kent, after all, had once put her education and experience to work by being the executive assistant for one of the most powerful men in the country. Chloe wondered how odd a sight it must be for one of Swann's private jets to be waiting for her twice a week at the Metropolis airport.

Martha sat beside Kal-El at Dr. Swann's table, animatedly debating with him about the election that had just completed.

"And it's not possible to have a candidate with no marks against his integrity," she reminded.

Kal-El frowned. "_ You _make compromises. From what my father told me, our leaders were far more honest."

"Did they treat their people as well as the AI has treated you?" Dr. Swann pointed out.

Kal-El considered the other man's point. "I am not certain. I know what my history has taught me."

"And it has been written by the winners," Dr. Swann reminded.

"Virgil, we were a people of honor. I don't always understand why some humans seem to fail in that regard."

"Flawed," his mother prodded.

Chloe's breath stilled and Kal-El blushed. They all knew by now what had been written on the inside of his ship. Kal-El took a deep breath and continued. "In some ways, perhaps. I just do not understand the failings of this system. I do not wish to do better. Despite my gifts, I sincerely doubt I could."

Martha nodded. "I know that, Kal-El. I just meant that your perspective is a little naïve."

"I want to hold your leaders to the ideals they espouse. How is that naïve?"

"It's not how it works," Dr. Swann reminded him.

"It should be," Kal-El replied and the petulance in his tone was child-like.

"A lot of things should be a certain way," Chloe reminded. "Wow that's the kind of discussion that just drains the fun out of dinner."

"You like to argue with me, Sull-I-Van."

"Too true, but no one ever comes out of a debate like that happy."

"But more enlightened, surely," Kal-El countered before turning at Martha. "Mother, do you wish for me to take you home? It is growing late and it would take me little time."

Understatement. Kal-El could be gone and back before Chloe blinked and they all knew it.

Martha sighed and pushed her plate away. "Time always flies so fast in New York. I'd like that very much, sweetheart."

Kal-El paused for a second and Chloe still couldn't tell if Martha's slip into nicknames, something she'd done since that stupid Gatorade incident, bothered Kal-El or comforted him. Martha was trying very hard to adjust, to be the mother to the little boy she'd found in the cornfield so many years ago. Part of that was treating him with the same maternal gentleness that she'd reserved for Clark. Chloe just hoped that Martha wasn't confusing the two. After how frustrating the spiked Krypto-juice had been, she didn't think so, but sometimes it was hard to keep the two separate. Sometimes it was hard for her to differentiate from the boy that was once and the man who was here now.

Except when he occasionally munched on tulips. She was going out on a limb and assuming that Clark hadn't done that.

"Of course," Kal-El replied. "Virgil, if you would excuse me one moment. I will be back."

The doctor smiled as best he could. "I assumed as much Kal-El." That was all Kal-El needed. There was a flicker and then a quick breeze and they were gone. Virgil's grin widened. "They must be taking their time."  
>"Or he could have gotten into an argument with Mr. Kent. It's hard to tell," Chloe replied, sighing.<p>

"Is it still bad between those two?"

"It's not hostile, exactly, but they're both stubborn and Kal-El's deeply wounded."

"And he can be snippy."

"I didn't say that."

Virgil rolled his eyes. "I've worked on several theories with Kal-El by now. If he doesn't want to admit that he is wrong, then he can pout for several days. He's brilliant but startlingly immature."

"He's not even eighteen yet."

"Sometimes he acts like he's five."

Chloe sighed. "Being around his…_ Clark's _father sets it off the most. It's better, but it's just more awkward than it could be."

"Jor-El's influence doesn't bother him the way it did Clark. I'd guess that it will never be what it was between them."

Chloe sighed and finished a bite of her mashed potatoes. "He has a few contenders to fill Mr. Kent's slot."

"What?"

"Never mind," she added, thinking about how attached Kal-El had become to Dr. Swann. He enjoyed the other man's company, even if he found most of his calculations "hysterical." In fact, on the evenings he came back from New York, he was always anxious to share his and Dr. Swann's discussions. It was cute but it wasn't quite right. Kal-El was using his relationship with Dr. Swann as a crutch to avoid having one real conversation with Mr. Kent. You know, the type where he didn't posture and joke about taking over the world and fly off in a huff. She and Martha were both desperately waiting for that one.

"As I said back in May, Miss Sullivan, all of these things take time. I'm just glad to see how well Kal-El has acclimated to his role in this world."

"You mean that he didn't take over Earth yet?"

"That was a thought that I was grateful for. It's all going to come. Not to be trite, but I've been around long enough to discover that circumstances work themselves out eventually."

Chloe eyed his chair. "Really?"

"I didn't say for the best, just that accommodations are always found."

"I hope so," she replied, smiling when Kal-El appeared in front of her.

He frowned. "You didn't startle."

"Not anymore. I've outgrown my scare reflex thanks to you. So, can I catch a ride on the Metropolis Shuttle?"

He grinned. "For you? Always, Sull-I-Van. Virgil, I have a term paper due on Monday."

"Is that problematic?"

"One cannot type in superspeed," Kal-El groused. "However, I can stop by on Tuesday afternoon if that is agreeable."

"It's fine, Kal-El. Chloe, until next time."

She nodded but before she could answer, she was whisked back to her apartment. It took even less time for the fearsome alien invader to have her naked.

"Kal-El!" She shouted, giggling as he started tickling her sides. "Come on!"

"I am being thorough."

"You're being seventeen again," she grumped. "We're supposed to be meeting Lois at The Talon before we all go over to see your mom."

Kal-El glared back at her. Then ferocity of his expression was marred by the fact that he still had his chin planted on her stomach. "I do not like Lois Lane."

"One, she helped save your ass with the Gatorade problem."

"Sull-I-Van," he started, averting his eyes.

She sighed and stroked his bangs back off of his forehead. "I'm not bringing it up to make you feel bad. I just meant that she's helped you out in the past and she's really gotten to like your mom. She's never like that around the General. If she needs a family to latch onto, then she can have mine."

That perked him up. "Yours?"

"Well I am technically engaged. It makes you and Lois in-laws!"

Kal-El made the same face he had that time she'd tried to convince him to eat corndogs. "That is less agreeable."

"She's family and she's good people, Kal-El. Just get over it. You're so sensitive about everything, you know that?"

"Perhaps."

"Kal-El?"

"Yes?"

She sighed and played with the silk of the sheet with her right hand. "Kal-El, we still don't spend that much time on Kent Farm."

"I've no interest in it."

"But maybe you should try it more."

"Sull-I-Van, aren't we going to be late to see your cousin?"

"You travel faster than I can blink. Stop making excuses and-" It was then that her cell phone rang. Reaching out to the night stand, she picked it up and brought it to her ear. "Hello?"  
>"I'm looking for a Chloe Sullivan." The voice on the other end was detached and professional and it made her heart skip a beat.<p>

"This is she."

"This is Dr. Scanlan from Smallville Medical Center. Your cousin's just been admitted. Miss Sullivan, she's in a coma."

Chloe dropped the phone and if not for Kal-El's speed, it would have shattered on the hardwood floor. She was too busy trying to remember to breathe instead of forming coherent thoughts. Still, there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind. She'd been trying to coax Kal-El up so they could shower and dress. They weren't due in Smallville for three hours. Why would her cousin who lived several blocks over in Metropolis already be there? She hadn't mentioned anything about visiting the Kents for an overnight.

So why?

"Sull-I-Van, we have must be going," Kal-El called, shaking her out of her funk.

"I know. God, believe me I do."

Chloe had never dressed faster in her life time and then they were speeding to Smallville.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Chloe hurried through the hallways of the SMC. She'd been there so many times in her short time in Smallville that she should have had a special discount. She could count off all the times in her head-falling from the Luthor Mansion window, buried alive, parasites inside of her. So many things to hate about this town, so many wrong things Kal-El had brought with him, even if he hadn't meant to. Things working there way through her system now and sinking into her and god, what if one day she put someone in the hospital.

What if she ended up like her mother.

"Sull-I-Van?" Kal-El prodded as they made their way into the ICU.

"What?"

"You are distant. I understand what is wrong, but is there something else? You know that you shall be able to help her."

"Maybe. I got lucky with your dad. But this is Smallville. Maybe she had a meteor rock run-in. I've never tried to heal anything with meteor rocks. It could be a completely different deal, out of my purview," she added. In fact, she didn't think she mixed at all with meteor rock problems. She'd tried "curing" Kal-El of his gatorade affliction through her touch and it hadn't worked. Somehow, she had a feeling that meteor rocks could give her power over a lot of things, but not over some of their own potent effects.

Stopping at the nurse's desk, Chloe took a deep breath. "Chloe Sullivan, I'm Lois Lane's cousin. Dr. Scanlan called me?"

A doctor with greying hair and a slight build stepped out from behind the desk. "Miss Sullivan, I'm Dr. Scanlan. I can take you into see your cousin, but only you. Whatever it is, we're not sure of the risks. She's in a clean room and you'd have to wear a suit to see her."

"What?" Chloe's heart stopped. They couldn't be saying this.

"Dr. Scanlan, we don't get it," Kal-El said, slipping into being Clark seamlessly. "You said that Lois was in a coma?"

"And you are?"

"This is Clark Kent. Lois was going to visit with the Kents today and I thought maybe she came into contact with something on the farm."

"Lois passed out at The Talon. Her vital signs are confounding. High fever but no heightened antibody levels. So that rules out infection. Her adrenaline however is astronomically high. I've never seen anything like it in any patient I've ever treated."

"But it'll go down, right?"

"Miss Sullivan, in the last three hours, the levels have only risen. We can't even get it to fall with the addition of sedatives. Her heart is beating far above normal rates. If it continues, she will have a heart attack and die."

"She'll what?"

Kal-El grabbed her arm. "Sul...Chloe, it's going to be okay. We can transfer her to Metropolis General."

"She can't be moved in her condition. If she wasn't on a constant sedative drip, she'd have suffered cardiac arrest by now."

Chloe stumbled into Kal-El's arms, "I don't understand. I...she was fine yesterday. We went to The Soho Cup in Metropolis. No one in our family has ever had heart problems. I just don't understand. She's only 19."

"Miss Sullivan, I've seen one other patient like this so far. It may be something endemic to this area. We don't know. But if you come with me, you can see her."

Chloe looked back at Kal-El. "I'll be back soon."

He nodded. "I know. Mom and dad should be here too. We wouldn't let you go through this alone."

But she was. Dad was in Gotham, the General was in Guam, and Lucy was at boarding school. She was the only one in the Sullivan-Lane family around. She had to make any medical decisions on her own. If Lois died...

No.

Lois wasn't going to die.

Lois was her family and Chloe was going to save her.

After putting on all the gear-the thick plastic coverall, the mask and gloves, the air filter-she entered into the room. Dr. Scanlan was giving her enough time to just be alone with her cousin. A few minutes was all she needed. Just a little bit and she could slip off her gloves and work her magic.

She snorted as she slipped off the thick rubber. Of all people on Earth, except for Kal-El, she was the least likely to need hot zone protection.

Lois was pale, her forehead covered in beads of sweat. The sedation and the tube down her throat kept her breathing regular, but Chloe could hear the staccato rhythm of the heart monitors, noticed how quickly her eyes fluttered under their lids.

"I'm going to take care of it, Lo, promise," she said, holding her hand to Lois chest and closing her eyes. She felt the familiar warm glow spreading through her and counted off, ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty. Chloe opened her eyes wide. Nothing. Her hand was glowing as brightly as it ever had and yet, nothing had changed with Lois's vitals.

Chloe shoved the glove quickly; she couldn't afford to be quarantined. Then everyone would _know _.

Touching Lois's ghostly cheek, Chloe felt the tears fall down her own. "Lo, I don't know how to help you. I...what are you seeing?"

The only answer was the constant wheeze of the respirator, answered occasionally by Chloe's sobs.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

It was cold.

That was what struck her most. It was July and it had been scorching this morning, hadn't it? She'd finally managed to slip out from under the general's notice, to leave the base on the outskirts of Metropolis, to finally find where her cousin had been buried. Lois stood over the grave, watching as the dirt turned to mud, watching as the down pour washed away the fresh tulips laid out there, washing as the headstone, itself began to chip and crumble under the downpour.

"Chloe Anne Sullivan, Beloved Daughter"

That was all the stone said, all there was to commemorate her. It seemed so funny to Lois, so odd. There should have been something more, some quote from one of those writers Chloe had loved so much, something snarky, more vibrant, something her cousin. Her heart felt heavy, like it was crumbling in her chest, like the ground beneath her was swallowing her whole.

No, wait.

The ground was moving, sifting unsteadily beneath her feet. Lois screamed before the ground gave way completely, the mud and worms pressing in on her. She clamped her mouth shut as fast as she could but still felt the dirt crushing her, the taste almost of ash.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again...well she didn't expect to be able to open them again. Suddenly she was in a penthouse, something well lit and beautiful, something ultramodern and that should have been on the cover of any Better Living magazine. Something that, like the grave, was nothing like the cousin she knew.

"Chlo?"

Her cousin was there, her hair a dark brown, not unlike Lois's own, an amused smile playing on her lips. Chloe knew something she didn't. Chloe always knew something she didn't. "Hey, Lo. You're late."

"I didn't know I was supposed to be here."

Chloe laughed and it sounded tinny, like her cousin was a million miles away and not right in front of her. "You weren't, but you're here now."

"You were dead."

Chloe pulled out a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere and pointed to the center. As Lois watched the card flipped itself over, revealing a joker underneath. "Slight of hand, the art of misdirection. Your dad knew."

"Who are you?"

Chloe frowned. "Who I've always been. Why do you ask?"

"No, not like this. Not with penthouses you can't afford."

Chloe grinned and Lois watched as something flashed between the palms of her now empty hands, something bright and rose-colored. "You don't know everything about me, Lo. Do you know me at all?"

"I thought I did. What's with Calvin?"

"Clark."

"Yeah, him. He was a farm dork and now he can afford to live in the best in Metropolis. He didn't love you but now he does. You can bring him down with a touch. What's going on."

Chloe smiled and then started to fade slightly. It was like looking through a ghost. "That would be telling."

Lois narrowed her eyes. "I want to know. What did Lionel want from you? What did you know?"

Chloe's smile widened. "What don't I know. And it's the wrong Luthor, cuz."

Chloe faded completely then and Lois reached across the expanse of the sofa, trying to keep her there, and instead fell flat on her face. Grumbling, she picked herself up and saw that everything had changed. She was in The Torch, the little paper her cousin ran, watching as Mikhail, the student body's own bookie, circled her cousin.

She knew Mikhail by reputation. And by Chloe's own confessions. He was one of the weird kids from Smallville, Lois thought maybe the kind that belonged to the Wall of Weird, but she wasn't sure. All she did know was that she'd had to steal a frequency jammer from Chloe to deal with him...and that he'd vanished.

As she watched, Mikhail wasn't circling Chloe any more. The walls of The Torch blurred and ran and faded until she was standing in the middle of a warehouse, of a blank, nondescript storage area. Mikhail was still now and Lex Luthor was circling him, some thick cuffs held in his hands. He slapped them on the smaller man and turned to Lois, an ugly predatory grin marring his features. "Did you know I'm coming for her too? That she made it so easy?"

Lois surged forward then but instead of reaching Lex, she felt the force of three guards as they slammed into her, a large set of cuffs covering her wrists. "Not Chloe!"

Lex laughed. "You don't even know _what _you're dealing with, do you, Lois? And you're never going to find out."

Lois screamed again and that was all she knew.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

"Sull-I-Van?" Kal-El called, wrapping his arms around her as soon as she was out of Lois's room. "Sull-I-Van? Are you alright?"

She blinked back up at him dazed and over his shoulder to where the doctor was frowning at both of them. "Clark, it's okay, really it is. I just...I've never seen Lo so sick before." Under her breath she added, "Kal-El, you have to take it down a notch. No weird names okay?"

He blushed, and it still amused her that aliens did that, but did not loosen his grip on her arm. "I'm sorry, Chlo. I didn't think you'd look so bad coming out." He pulled her into an alcove by the vending machine and looked over the hallway, making sure there were no doctors around him. "In fact, I was expecting Lois to wake up. Why has she failed to do this?"

Chloe sniffled and kept leaning into him. "It's a question for you and me both. Whatever this is, I can't cure it, which doesn't make that much sense. I fixed your dad's coma and I can fix you."

"Not from magic."

"I doubt the wicked witch of the west did this," she snarked.

He narrowed his eyes. "Do not be short with me. It is unfair."

"Sorry. It's just what's the point of being a freak if I can't save my family?"

Kal-El glared at her but didn't press. "Then it may be something more complex."

"More complex than alien coma?"

"Kryptonian," Kal-El corrected. "From my perspective..."

"We're all aliens. I get that. But I don't understand why I can't fix what's wrong."

"You cannot alter your own mutation."

"Lois isn't a meteor mutant. She'd never been to Smallville before she got kicked out of high school."

"No, if something is Kryptonite-based, perhaps you are not able to alter it. If this is an illness spreading through Smallville, then it might be due to the meteor rocks themselves."

"After fourteen years?"

"Hamilton once used them to start spreading an extinct fever. Perhaps someone else has decided to manipulate contaminants again."

"Well, then, we have to go through the list of suspects. There's still a military base outside of Smallville that's active. Hamilton's been dead for years but maybe someone found his old records and is taking up with that. We could try going to Lex. His dad had all kinds of crazy experiments going before he was sentenced. This could be an outgrowth of some military contract."

Kal-El looked back towards Lois's room, squinting slightly, and she wondered if he was getting a better view of her cousin. "I think that Lex may be the best place to start."

"Why is that?"

"While you were with Lois, I checked on the other two patients manifesting. One is a delivery truck driver for the fertilizer plant and the other is the night security guard."

Chloe frowned. Things weren't fitting together quite right. "Yeah and Lois doesn't work for Lex. Hell, why would she even be at the plant when she's supposed to be meeting with us in The Talon?"

Kal-El considered that. "Then perhaps we should check quickly with my mother. If Lois got here early, maybe she stopped by the farm before heading over to The Talon to wait for us."

"Oh God," Chloe replied, her eyes going wide. "We were supposed to be at your parents twenty minutes ago.

"At the farm," Kal-El corrected, ushering her deeper into the shadows. "And we shall be there before you can blink."

Chloe had lived with Kal-El for months and, not to sound ungrateful, had used him as a shuttle back and forth to school for all that time. Still, she'd never quite acclimated to the speed. It was surreal to be standing in Smallville Med one minute and then to be in the middle of the Kent kitchen the next. Apparently, even after over a decade with him, even Martha wasn't quite used to the random comings and going either.

When they apparated in front of her, she squealed and dropped the plate of sandwiches she'd been fixing. Chloe braced herself for the sound of shattering china and sighed when she realized the plate was already sitting on the table. The speed was so counter intuitive.

"Kal-El," Martha admonished, a cheeky smile playing at her lips. "I thought you two would be using the door. In fact, I thought it would be all three of you. Chloe said you were meeting Lois at The Talon. She left here over an hour ago to meet up with you."

"Martha, Lois was at The Talon but she got sick. She collapsed at the counter and they rushed her to the ICU at Smallville Medical Center," Chloe replied, stumbling over the words. They didn't feel true. Hell, they didn't feel possible.

"My God, what's wrong?"

"The doctors did not know. They had not seen anything like what Lois has. Was she ill when she was here?"

Martha shook her head and reached out to squeeze Chloe's shoulder. "No, she was perfectly fine. She got here about ten AM, offered to help me cook some of the egg salad for lunch and when I declined, she went out and helped your dad take another look at the tractor."

Kal-El stiffened but didn't waste time arguing semantics with Martha. "But she was well?"

"She swore a blue streak at the tractor and called it junk that the motor pool on her dad's base would have blown up, so I'd say she was pretty lively. I don't understand. Is it a fever?"

Chloe shuddered. "They don't know what it is. Her heart's racing out of control. It's like some kind of concentrated panic attack or nightmare they can't wake her up from. And she's not the only one. There are two LuthorCorp employees sick too, but the connection-"

"Lois has never been near the plant," Martha finished.

"Exactly. Unless she has. Did she mention anything about being out there?"

"No, but she left her purse here this morning. She didn't want to drag something that heavy when all she needed was five dollars for a mocha while she waited for you. You're welcome to go through it."

"Go through what now?" Mr. Kent asked as he walked through the back door.

"Lois's purse," Chloe supplied. "She's at the hospital and we're trying to trace the steps to figure out how she got there."

Mr. Kent eyed Kal-El speculatively and Chloe didn't like the scrutiny. "What does she have?"

"We have no idea so research appeared to be in order," Kal-El supplied.

"A fortress and all that advanced knowledge and you have no idea?"

Kal-El balled his hands up at his sides. "If it's something engineered here, of course not. I've found you're quite talented at getting yourselves killed."

"Well, as long as it's not anything that's a surprise."

"Stop it!" Martha shouted, standing between the two of them. "The whole point of today was to have a nice afternoon as a family."

"And with Lois," Kal-El said, pouting just slightly.

"And with Lois who's been very helpful since she got here," Martha corrected. "None of us were going to sit by and watch the two of you posture back and forth all afternoon."

"I wasn't going to do that, sweetheart."

"I do not posture."

"Right," Chloe snapped. "The point is either stop acting like five year olds and help me out or get out of my way."

Kal-El frowned and squeezed her hand gently in his. "I am sorry, Sull-I-Van. I did not mean to be petty."

"You're not the only one," she replied, her tone clipped. "It's not completely your fault. I think testosterone-fill in your equivalent-kills brain cells. Please, just help me."

Kal-El kissed her cheek and then flickered, at least from her perspective, and when he returned he had thick leather bound day book in his hands. "I can do that or maybe more accurately Lois, herself, has. She was scheduled to meet with Lex for a job interview this morning at eight."

"No way."

"She didn't mention anything," Martha replied. "She must have changed on her way over because she was just in jeans and boots when she got here."

"But it seems like she kept the appointment, she even has an application for the company in her purse. That's so not like Lois not to tell me things like this. Besides, factory work is something she used to make fun of my dad for. It's so not her. I don't get it."

"Then it is something we shall find out," Kal-El replied, as he picked up the phone on the kitchen wall and dialed. "Hey Lex, it's Clark. I need a really big favor."


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

"Clark, Chloe, long time no see," Lex said, reaching out his hand to shake hers. Chloe took it and smiled gratefully back at him. He and her uncle were the only things that had kept her safe from Lionel's wrath. She wasn't sorry for what had happened. Didn't regret that the company had then fallen to Lex's hands, no matter how much Lois complained. Of course Lois would be suspicious. She'd only gotten the story after Chloe's resurrection. She certainly didn't know all the other details, the things that didn't concern Lex in the least.

Things like the boy next to her.

Kal-El didn't like Lex. Chloe had been so confused with Clark's anger and coldness to Lex at the hearing. She'd had no idea why he barely even made it. That had never been like him. Clark had the tendency to run so late but not when it mattered, not when he'd worked so hard to take down Lionel. But he'd left both of them waiting, Lex almost panicked or as panicked as Lex could get. That wasn't Clark. He was dependable.

He wasn't intentionally late and he wasn't hostile, not to his "best friend." Except, Lex was a man to watch, at least if you were a Kryptonian. He'd had a room about Clark and his amazing saves for three years, had spied on him, had turned the FBI onto his farm, albeit by accident. Clark had found that room the day of the hearing-been pushed more like it-because of Lionel. But Clark was a stand-up guy at the heart of it. He was still going to put Lionel in prison because it was the right thing to do. But everything between him and Lex had shattered that day.

Kal-El had told her all of this over the summer. He was oddly calm as he did it. It was one of those differences. Clark loved Lana; Kal-El despised her. Clark respected Mr. Kent; Kal-El didn't. Clark had been crushed when Lex had betrayed him; Kal-El had been expecting it. It still infuriated him, but Kal-El had foreseen it. He'd always been aware of Lex's too pointed questions, of the measures the other man had gone to with Hamilton and Nixon. While Clark was naive enough to forgive and to look for the best in everybody, Kal-El had been waiting.

But, above most things, Kal-El was a pragmatist. It was easier to keep an eye on Lex if they were still in the same social circle. Keep him close and monitor how much he knew, things like that. So after the gatorade fiasco, Kal-El had approached Lex on the context of trying to get brotherly advice on how to "patch things up" with her after the cafeteria proclamation of love.

It had been enough to mend fences.

But Kal-El was still wary.

Chloe wasn't naive, knew Lex could be slippery, but she owed him her life, and, as of yet, he'd been curious about Clark. She'd kept her files as well. It felt too much like throwing stones to automatically hate him for it.

"Hey Lex, thanks for meeting with us on such short notice," Kal-El said, managing to duck his head and, like always, the impersonation floored her. He was so good at being that shy and self-effacing. Of course, after everything that had happened with the Krypto-ade, she'd realized Kal-El had his own share of insecurities. She reached out and gave his hand a quick squeeze and he smiled back shyly at her.

"No problem. It's been a bit tight today around the plant, but for Clark Kent I can most certainly make the time."

"I'd bet," Kal-El chirped. Only by watching his shoulders and the strain in them closely would you be able to tell the lie. "Look, Lex, we have a real problem. Lois was meeting us for coffee at The Talon and by the time we got there, she'd collapsed."

"Is she alright?" He asked, perfectly collected.

"No, she's not. Her heart won't stop racing and they can't wake her up from some kind of aggressive coma. The doctors likened it to like being stuck in a nightmare. Her adrenaline levels are dangerously high and climbing. If this goes on, she'll be in cardiac arrest."

"I'm sorry."

Kal-El narrowed his eyes. "Lois had an appointment here at 8 AM this morning. She wrote down something about a job interview at the plant."

"There are people in human resources."

"Lois wrote _Appointment with Lex _in her datebook," Chloe countered. "Not at LuthorCorp, not about the fertilizer plant but _with _you. What was she meeting about?"

Lex looked between them and hesitated. "I'd rather not say. That was private."

"She's dying," Kal-El countered.

"So you've told me but I don't know what I have to do with it."

"She came here," she said. "She came here and the only other two people sick at the hospital are plant employees. What's going on here? What did you want with my cousin?"

"She wanted something with me. She came here because of a job interview but then she got to grilling me all about what happened with her father and you over the summer. She didn't get what she wanted from you."

"That's kind of besides the point," Kal-El corrected. "She was here and now she's sick."

"Lex, that's three people with a never before seen sickness who have all been here. There has to be something here more than fertilizer so what is it?"

Lex shook his head. "It's not possible."

"What's not possible?" Kal-El persisted and Chloe slowly pulled her hand away. Kal-El was beginning to clench his fists and she'd rather not have to heal herself.

"She can't be sick from here."

"Why can't she?"

"Because we have it contained."

Kal-El's fist clenched again. "What do you have contained because I don't think it is anymore?"

"We were conducting an experiment with the meteor rocks, an attempt to grow a type of bacteria that could render the person exposed to it unconscious, not merely that. It would expose them to their worst nightmare."

"And you do that at a fertilizer plant?" Chloe asked.

"It's a military contract. We've been branching out for the last six months."

"Since you got control of the company. I can't believe you," she hissed. "You got my cousin sick."

"I don't understand how. It's been contained. It's in the bowels of the facility in a controlled air flow room. The security around it is tighter than most parts of USAMRID."

"Something is wrong, though," she insisted, standing. "Lex, I don't know how it happened, but something let the bacteria out. Let us see the facility because something...something...oh man," she finished, stumbling back into Kal-El's lap.

"Chloe?"

"Sull-i...Chlo?"

She blinked, "Clark, I'm fine. I just felt dizzy all of a sudden. It's fine, really." She said, trying to stand, and that's when she collapsed, the darkness closing in on her as she sank into Kal-El's arms.

That's when she saw her mother.

"Chloe! Chloe! Wake up!" Kal-El was shaking her, struggling not to shake her too hard in his panic, but it was difficult. His True One was sick and it was getting difficult to think straight.

"Clark?" Lex said, rushing over to him, helping to lift Chloe into his arms. Kal-El made the minimal effort to pretend lifting a hundred or so pounds was difficult. "Is she alright?"

Sull-I-Van shuddered in his arms and moaned. "Mom?"

"Chloe!" He shouted, pushing the hair back from her bangs. "God, she's burning up. I didn't even know Lois was running a fever."

Lex considered that. "Clark, we can take her down to the lab. If they can get samples from her, then they can start work on the antidote."

"No."

"Clark, it's not about us. I don't have access to Lois or to my employees. I can start with Chloe, though. If Lois is already sick, then we don't have a lot of time."

"No."

"Don't be insane."

"Do not even. You were insane to start a military contract and to agree to something like that. You have made this mess."

Lex narrowed his eyes at him. "I made a mistake. It was supposed to stay contained."

"It hasn't!" He shouted and the other man shrank back from him. "If I were you, I'd start trying to think of something and that includes contacting the necessary authorities. Everything from the plant is at risk. That is over a thousand people."

"I can't..."

"Forget the safety records. Just find something. If anything happens to her, then you will live to regret it."

"Clark, calm down. Just let me bring her down."

"No, I won't."

"Why not?"

Kal-El cradled Chloe more closely to him. "Mikhail is why not."

Lex inched closer and Kal-El moved back. "Is Chloe?"

"She's none of your business. Fix it and I'm going to the hospital. Maybe between your lab here and the doctors there you can think of something to save everyone."

"Clark, is she?"

Kal-El took a deep breath and reminded himself not to let is eyes flare. "She's sick. That is all that you need to worry about."

With that he rushed as quick as human speed would allow to his truck. There were appearances to keep, after all.

"Kal-El?" His mother asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sweetheart, you've been in here for over two hours. Do you need to take a break?"

He looked up from where Sull-I-Van was lying on the bed in his parents' room. Well not his, not exactly. Maybe one day Martha Kent would really truly be, but Jonathan was another story, and one he didn't care about, not now. He was focused entirely on _her _.

"I do not wish to leave her."

"How's she doing?"

He shrugged. "Her heart rate has increased two fold since she collapsed. Her temperature is close to 102 degrees. She is perspiring profusely."

"Kal-El, baby, we should be taking her to a hospital."

He shook his head. "No hospitals. She's infected. I do not want to know what they would find. I will not bring more attention to her. They can do nothing for the bacteria, not since it is irradiated. They can only discover more about her than they should. She would protect my secret and I am protecting hers."

"But there's more treatment they can provide there. Something besides wet towels and ice. They can monitor her."

"I can hear her perfectly, mother. I know what is happening."

His mother sighed again and leaned over Sull-I-Van, placing another damp rag against her forehead. "She would be near Lois. Both girls can try recovering together."

"There is not any recovery, not as far as I know. Sull-I-Van can heal anything save for mutations. That is what has affected the bacteria Lex was experimenting on. If she cannot heal from it...I am waiting for what Lex can do."

"The Fortress-"

"Answers to her and she is not conscious. I do not think my father anticipated this. We both assumed that her mutation, that she was more invulnerable than she actually is. It was shortsighted. All there is left is Lex and his cooperation with Smallville Medical Center."

"Is there something you can do?"

"I can wait. I am good at that. It is something Sull-I-Van and I have in common."

"Kal-El, there has to be something."

Just then Sull-I-Van bucked back against the mattress and screamed, a harsh shriek that heard Kal-El's sensitive ears. "Mom! Mommy!"

"Kal-El?"

He shook his head and slipped into bed next to her, pulling her body into his lap. "Shh, she does not say much. She sometimes shouts out for her mother." He looked back down at her forehead. "Mrs. Sullivan left her and has been gone since she was little."

His own mother nodded. "Everyone does that."

Kal-El clutched Sull-I-Van tighter. "Did I?"

His mother swallowed and nodded. "Often at first and for 'Lara.' I just didn't know who she was. Baby, please, let's just go. There has to be something. Don't let it go on like this."

"I cannot. They won't take her to some lab because of me. Sull-I-Van has worked so hard at hiding who she is and I have helped her. She is my True One and I am going to protect her."

His mother patted his knee. "This is crazy. Kal-El, please just..."

"Just what?" He asked, looking up from Sull-I-Van's pale face. When he looked back, he was left gaping at his mother, lying prone at the foot of the bed. "Oh Rao no.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

Martha was confused.

She didn't understand. She'd just been in her bedroom with Kal-El. She knew she had. They'd been talking over Chloe and then she was just here. How did she even get to the barn; that trip from point A to point B was blanked out from her memory. Sighing, Martha pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders and started back to the house.

It was then she heard the crash from upstairs in the loft.

Curious, she ascended the stairs and frowned at whom she found there. "Kal-El, did you bring me out here?" Kal-El, who for some unknown reason was dressed in flannel, finally glanced up at her. Martha felt a stab in her chest when she realized that the son in front of her's eyes were green, not blue. "Clark?" She rushed for him then, trying to wrap her arms around him, but he pushed her away. Stricken, she sat back on the sofa, still trying to reach out to him. "You're back. I don't understand."

"I don't either," he replied and his shoulders were hunched, his head hung low. "Didn't you want me back?"

"Of course, baby, of course," and she reached out again, trying to comfort him. This time Clark stood up and went over to the loft window. She had never had him pull away from her like that when red kryptonite wasn't involved. It made it hard to breathe.

"No you didn't."

"How can you say that? I looked and looked when Jor-El took you. I did everything I could think of."

Clark was glaring at her and his hands were clenched so hard the knuckles were white. "You love him more."

"Who baby?"

"Don't call me that."

"But Clark-"

"No," he shouted and she shrank back from him. "You chose him. Dr. Swan gave you the black kryptonite. You could have me back but you love him more than me."

She stood up and started over to him but Clark held up a hand, stilling her. "I don't love him more."

"You chose. If you just tried, I would be back. You could have me back."

"I can't kill him. It would be murder."

"But you want me back, don't you? If you loved me, you'd do it."

"I promised to protect _both _of you."

"And now the only one you're protecting is Kal-El."

"He's my son too."

Clark shook his head. "_ I'm _your son. How do you even know Kal-El is real?"

"I know him."

"He could still be Jor-El's trick. You used to know better. You used to know that Kal-El had to be stopped, that it was just some programming in my head."

"He's not."

"So you get to choose him over me?"

"Clark, I didn't. I just can't kill him. Chloe and I...we can't. I'm sorry, but you're here now." She replied, reaching out for him again, only to watch him fade away. "Clark?"

The scene shifted around her, and she was disoriented by the changes, by being left in an expansive penthouse. Martha gaped at the large window in front of her, at the view over Central Park. She'd been a Metropolis girl once. She knew how impossibly expensive the apartment was.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Mother, you came," and before she could blink Kal-El's strong arms were around her. "I am most delighted."

Martha pulled back from him and gripped his shoulders. "Kal-El, you don't understand. I'm so confused. I saw Clark and how did I even get here?"

Kal-El paused and frowned. "There is no Clark. I have explained this. If you do not love me..."

And both of her boys were so sensitive. "No, I care about both of you, but I don't understand. Chloe's very sick and we were trying to take care of her."

Kal-El, as mercurial as always, broke into a wide grin. "Chloe is recovering very well. She's in the bedroom. Would you like to see her?"

"You know I would," she finished, trailing after Kal-El, relieved at the thought that Chloe and, by extension, Lois would be okay. When Kal-El pushed open the doors to the bedroom, her eyes widened. Chloe was sitting propped up against the headboard, still dressed in loose flannel pajamas. Cradled in her arms was a tiny newborn with tufts of curly dark hair.

Chloe smiled beatifically back at her, "Say hello to grandma."

Beyond confused, Martha looked from Kal-El to Chloe. There'd definitely been no time for that. Kal-El didn't even know if...when had this happened?

"Are you not excited, mother?"

Martha looked back at her son, at the proud smile on his face, and couldn't help but smile back. The confusion was still there, hanging thickly in her mind, but this was what Kal-El had always wanted, had been something the _both _of them had always craved. It was hard not to be caught up in the emotion of all of that. Walking over to the bed, she leaned over to stroke her grandchild's cheek. His bright blue eyes pained her, a reminder of which son he belonged to and of the angry boy in the loft who'd left her.

Chloe grinned. "I don't want to brag but I think he's the most beautiful baby in the world myself." Then as if it weren't a dead language, she slipped into Kryptonian and started cooing away at her son. It was sweet and maternal but it felt wrong.

Shouldn't Clark be there?

Shouldn't this in some way be his life?

What had she done?

Kal-El reached out and touched her shoulder and she couldn't help but jump. When she looked into his eyes, she gulped a little. They were burning red, hot like coals. "Thank you, mother."

"For what?"

"For making this possible. I could not have stolen everything without you."

"Clark, I'm sorry," his mother moaned as she thrashed in front of him.

Kal-El swallowed but accepted this. He had no idea what her nightmares would include but it would make sense that it would be about her other son, the real one. Kal-El forced himself to ignore her moans. Gently, he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. Her heart was beating far faster than Sull-I-Van's and that made a modicum of sense. Even if Sull-I-Van's power had not saved her, it probably kept the disease from working as quickly through her system.

"Kal-El, I heard a crash. God, not her too." Jonathan cried as he entered into the room. Kal-El noticed how he flinched at the sight of him cradling his mother. A charitable view-Sull-I-Van's view-would be that it was all from the shock of seeing Martha ill. Kal-El was not charitable. He doubted that Jonathan trusted him around his mother, as if he'd crush her.

"Yes. I cannot take Sull-I-Van to the hospital. I keep my promises and I doubt there is little they can do with an unknown meteorite-enhanced poison at any rate."

"Hand her over, please."

"I can carry her. It is no burden at all."

Jonathan glared at him. "I want you to hand her over, Kal-El."

He wanted to posture, to protest. He didn't like Clark's father, didn't think he knew anything about how to react in a crisis. Humans rarely did, too emotional. However, time was fleeting. They could at least take his mother to a place where she could be monitored. Where men in white lab coats would give some modicum of comfort to Jonathan. Besides, neither Sull-I-Van nor his mother would want them to fight.

Sighing, he handed over his mother. "We shall be off now, correct?"

Jonathan nodded. "The kryptonite hasn't brought anything but trouble with it and with Lex and his experiments...I wish the shower had never happened."

Kal-El clenched his fists and remembered that he had promised Sull-I-Van to behave. "Did you always feel this way?"

"Just recently," he replied, going down the stairs.

"You do not trust me at all, do you?"

"Just get to the car, Kal-El."

And with that, they were off.


	7. Chapter 7

**8**

Dr. Scanlan, you have to do something for my family. You don't understand. I can't do anything without my mom and dad. Lois is my best friend's cousin. I just can't lose any of them," Kal-El begged. Everyone he knew was dying. All his connections to the human world, his family, his _intended _were dying. Human science had to fix it.

It had created this mess in the first place.

"I'm sorry. Your family is one of three dozen different patients I've had today. They're all sick, son, and we can't figure out the cause. I've called in the CDC, but I have to tell you that none of this looks good."

Kal-El shook his head. "You don't understand. They're my family. It's my mother in there."

"I understand that, but there's nothing I can do."

"No," he said, forcing himself to clench his hands. He couldn't afford to accidentally shatter bones. "You have to save them. I...you need to...you should," Kal-El stumbled into a chair in the waiting room.

"Son, are you alright?"

He nodded, wheezing a little. "Fine. I don't need to be helped. You should go back to your patients."

"Clark, you've been exposed to the same toxins. I should examine you too."

"No, I just need a moment. I've been running on stress since I saw Lois this morning. I just need to rest my eyes for a second. Doctor, please, just check on my mother."

"I'm going but if you feel worse, you should see a nurse."

"Promise," Kal-El chirped, faking a smile for him. "I feel fine, though." Dr. Scanlan nodded, leaving Kal-El alone. Breathing a little heavier than normal, he made his way to a dark hallway and sped home.

"Sull-I-Van, I cannot stay forever. Mother is ill and I must stay between you, but I did not wish for you to think I'd abandoned you." He leaned over and grabbed her wrist, letting his fingers stray over the watch around her wrist. "I do not know what to do. This is an illness caused by Kryptonite. It affects humans. My father cannot fix this. I thought that perhaps you could, that it would not take you, but I have been wrong."

To his shock, Sull-I-Van opened her eyes, and stretched. Straining his ears, Kal-El could discern that her heart had returned to its usual rhythm.

"That's not possible."

"It's completely possible," she replied, smiling. "I feel much better now." Without any fanfare, she hopped up and walked out of her room, starting for the stairs.

Confused, Kal-El trailed behind her. "No, you were sick."

She shrugged. "And I'm a mutant. Of course I was always going to get better. Don't be dumb."

Kal-El reached out for her shoulders and turned her around. "Sull-I-Van, I do not understand."

"I'm better, Kal-El, don't be so clinging, Christ."

He dropped his hands immediately and followed her down the stairs. "I did not mean to offend."

"You're so damn needy. Did anyone ever tell you that? All you do is whine. 'My planet's gone, wah.' 'My adopted parents don't love me enough, wah.' It's a major pain in my ass."

"Why are you saying these things?" He asked, stopping on the stairs with her.

She laughed, a harsh sound that hurt his ears. Unstrapping the watch from her wrist, she shoved it into his hand. "Oh and I changed my mind."

"What?"

"I Changed. My. Mind. Is that hard to understand?"

"It is. I...why?"

She smiled at him as she practically skipped down the stairs. "Because I have who I really want."

"I don't under-" Kal-El's eyes widened when he found _Clark _standing at the bottom of the stair well.

Sull-I-Van wasted no time leaping into Clark's arms and kissing him, and kissing him, and kissing him. Kal-El looked away and wished he could dampen his hearing so that the sucking noises would cease. Finally, blessfully it stopped.

"Clark's back, didn't you know?"

"How is that possible?"

"Does it matter?" Chloe enthused. "He's back and I don't need you anymore!"

"You were using me?"

She nodded and kissed Clark again. "I was just waiting for him to come back and he did. Isn't it great? Now I don't have to pretend anything anymore."

"Pretend?"

"He's human, and I loved him first. You just kind of look alike."

"I see."

"And your parents. You should see how happy they are he's back. We're going to have a big picnic. Clark and Mr. Kent are going to play football and everything."

Clark grinned back at him. "You can go. Don't you have a Fortress of Solitude to hang out in?"

"I..."

Sull-I-Van looked back at him. "He said to leave, didn't he? Now get out."

Kal-El woke up on a gurney in the middle of Smallville Medical Center. Before he had moved his legs over the side, three nurses were on him. "You woke up?"

"I did," he gruffed. "Please get away from me."

Dr. Scanlan was before him, holding the stethoscope to his chest. "You don't understand. You're the only person who's fallen sick who's gotten better. If we could run some bloodwork."

"You can't."

"I thought you wanted to save your family."

Kal-El did, but letting the doctors examine him here was not an option. They wouldn't understand the first thing about his biology, and they certainly didn't understand the toxin. He knew that he had only one option, that there was one man who had the resources to deal with his bloodwork.

He would trade his secret for his family if he had too.

Decision made, he excused himself and rushed back to Luthorcorp.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

Dr. Scanlan, you have to do something for my family. You don't understand. I can't do anything without my mom and dad. Lois is my best friend's cousin. I just can't lose any of them," Kal-El begged. Everyone he knew was dying. All his connections to the human world, his family, his _intended _were dying. Human science had to fix it.

It had created this mess in the first place.

"I'm sorry. Your family is one of three dozen different patients I've had today. They're all sick, son, and we can't figure out the cause. I've called in the CDC, but I have to tell you that none of this looks good."

Kal-El shook his head. "You don't understand. They're my family. It's my mother in there."

"I understand that, but there's nothing I can do."

"No," he said, forcing himself to clench his hands. He couldn't afford to accidentally shatter bones. "You have to save them. I...you need to...you should," Kal-El stumbled into a chair in the waiting room.

"Son, are you alright?"

He nodded, wheezing a little. "Fine. I don't need to be helped. You should go back to your patients."

"Clark, you've been exposed to the same toxins. I should examine you too."

"No, I just need a moment. I've been running on stress since I saw Lois this morning. I just need to rest my eyes for a second. Doctor, please, just check on my mother."

"I'm going but if you feel worse, you should see a nurse."

"Promise," Kal-El chirped, faking a smile for him. "I feel fine, though." Dr. Scanlan nodded, leaving Kal-El alone. Breathing a little heavier than normal, he made his way to a dark hallway and sped home.

"Sull-I-Van, I cannot stay forever. Mother is ill and I must stay between you, but I did not wish for you to think I'd abandoned you." He leaned over and grabbed her wrist, letting his fingers stray over the watch around her wrist. "I do not know what to do. This is an illness caused by Kryptonite. It affects humans. My father cannot fix this. I thought that perhaps you could, that it would not take you, but I have been wrong."

To his shock, Sull-I-Van opened her eyes, and stretched. Straining his ears, Kal-El could discern that her heart had returned to its usual rhythm.

"That's not possible."

"It's completely possible," she replied, smiling. "I feel much better now." Without any fanfare, she hopped up and walked out of her room, starting for the stairs.

Confused, Kal-El trailed behind her. "No, you were sick."

She shrugged. "And I'm a mutant. Of course I was always going to get better. Don't be dumb."

Kal-El reached out for her shoulders and turned her around. "Sull-I-Van, I do not understand."

"I'm better, Kal-El, don't be so clinging, Christ."

He dropped his hands immediately and followed her down the stairs. "I did not mean to offend."

"You're so damn needy. Did anyone ever tell you that? All you do is whine. 'My planet's gone, wah.' 'My adopted parents don't love me enough, wah.' It's a major pain in my ass."

"Why are you saying these things?" He asked, stopping on the stairs with her.

She laughed, a harsh sound that hurt his ears. Unstrapping the watch from her wrist, she shoved it into his hand. "Oh and I changed my mind."

"What?"

"I Changed. My. Mind. Is that hard to understand?"

"It is. I...why?"

She smiled at him as she practically skipped down the stairs. "Because I have who I really want."

"I don't under-" Kal-El's eyes widened when he found _Clark _standing at the bottom of the stair well.

Sull-I-Van wasted no time leaping into Clark's arms and kissing him, and kissing him, and kissing him. Kal-El looked away and wished he could dampen his hearing so that the sucking noises would cease. Finally, blessfully it stopped.

"Clark's back, didn't you know?"

"How is that possible?"

"Does it matter?" Chloe enthused. "He's back and I don't need you anymore!"

"You were using me?"

She nodded and kissed Clark again. "I was just waiting for him to come back and he did. Isn't it great? Now I don't have to pretend anything anymore."

"Pretend?"

"He's human, and I loved him first. You just kind of look alike."

"I see."

"And your parents. You should see how happy they are he's back. We're going to have a big picnic. Clark and Mr. Kent are going to play football and everything."

Clark grinned back at him. "You can go. Don't you have a Fortress of Solitude to hang out in?"

"I..."

Sull-I-Van looked back at him. "He said to leave, didn't he? Now get out."

Kal-El woke up on a gurney in the middle of Smallville Medical Center. Before he had moved his legs over the side, three nurses were on him. "You woke up?"

"I did," he gruffed. "Please get away from me."

Dr. Scanlan was before him, holding the stethoscope to his chest. "You don't understand. You're the only person who's fallen sick who's gotten better. If we could run some bloodwork."

"You can't."

"I thought you wanted to save your family."

Kal-El did, but letting the doctors examine him here was not an option. They wouldn't understand the first thing about his biology, and they certainly didn't understand the toxin. He knew that he had only one option, that there was one man who had the resources to deal with his bloodwork.

He would trade his secret for his family if he had too.

Decision made, he excused himself and rushed back to Luthorcorp.


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

"Are you insane? Seriously, are you mentally defective in some way I have yet to understand? Or are you incredibly suicidal? Because I want it to be B. I don't date morons!" Sull-I-Van was glaring at him and it amused him that the rose-colored glow was spreading across her palms. She was thinking of hurting him.

He expected nothing less from his intended.

Kal-El laughed and sat back in the chair by her bedside. "Are you threatening me?"

"If you even try something that idiotic again I'll kill you."

"Will not."

"I think I can get pretty far. I'm no slouch in the phenomenal cosmic powers, department. Kal-El," she said, her tone serious, "How could you even think of going to Lex and offering him your blood to study. It was crazy."

"I did not end up doing that, did I? I offered and when I realized all the antidote needed was to be superheated, I used my heat vision instead. I had no interest in becoming a lab rat, but my family was ill. My intended was dying. I would do anything to save all of you."

"Even Mr. Kent and Lois?"

"Yes, even them. They matter to you and mother."

Chloe shook her head. "You're such a liar. We all matter to you."

"Lois has proven helpful. I do not care for Jonathan, and you know this."

"You keep saying it," she replied, leaning back in Clark's parents' bed. "How are your mom and Mr. Kent? How's Lois?"

"Lois is getting discharged from the hospital. She promised to meet us at The Talon for some actual lunch and we would make plans from there. Mother and Jonathan are down stairs. I gave them some space. Mother is most angry with me."

"Naturally, you're an idiot."

"And they also came so close to losing the other. I deduced they needed some time with each other."

Sull-I-Van grinned. "Just like you thought you needed some time with me?"

Kal-El swallowed and looked away. "I am sorry. Nothing came of my rash actions. The town is safe and my secret has not been revealed too early. I have not put myself in danger."

"But you were going to."

"I would do anything for you, Sull-I-Van."

"I know, but you can't always, like with Isobel. One day, you'll actually get yourself killed and I can't bear it."

"Can you?"

She frowned, wrinkling up her nose. "I don't understand."

"Everyone had a nightmare under the gas. I fell ill as well, as you know. I dreamed."

"What did you dream about?"

He sighed and squeezed her hand as tightly as he could without hurting her. "I dreamed that Clark came back, that you fell in love with him all over again, that you've been using me because once, we were the same."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you serious? You think that I've been using you?"

"Everyone loves Clark best."

"Bullshit. Your mother loves both of you. I told you that I care for you a great deal, Kal-El. I show you every night. I don't understand what more you could need from me."

"You never tell me that you love me, Sull-I-Van. I am patient and I will always be yours. I cannot change my nature and I have no desire to, but it has been months. I do not know what more I can do to make me love you and I know how desperately you loved him."

"I know but you don't understand."

"Then perhaps you can explain it to me for my greatest fear is that I am being used, that if I did not resemble Clark so that you and my mother would have thrown me out by now."

Sull-I-Van shook her head. "You're the most sensitive future dictator that I have ever met. Kal-El, we aren't humoring you. You scared me when you drank the Gatorade. I was scared that you weren't ever coming back, that you'd never be yourself. I _missed _you. I had woken up and the reason was because Lex had you locked away somewhere, filtering your blood, I'd never recover. You have to believe me."

"I want to. But I want you to tell me that you love me."

"I can't, Kal-El."

He swallowed and dropped her hand. "I understand. Well, I shall just be going to see my mother."

"No, you don't understand," she replied, sighing. "I found my mother."

"But she has been gone since you were five."

She nodded. "I tracked her down this summer. I know where she lives and she's alive."

"That is a wonderful thing, is it not? I understand that you resented her for leaving but she is your mother." If Lara were alive, he'd seek her out. As much as he loved his mother, he wished he could have Martha Kent and Lara Lor-Van both in his life.

She burst into tears and all of his selfish insecurities were forgotten. He was beside her in the bed, holding her close and stroking her back. "You don't understand. Oh God, Kal-El, I wish I'd never found her."

"She did not wish to see you? I understand that more than you would think."

"No, she's sick."

"What?"

She looked up at him, tears staining her cheeks. "My mom is sick. She's in a mental hospital in a catatonic state. She's crazy and that's why she left." She burst into tears again, clinging to him.

"Shh, Sull-I-Van. It is alright. You will not end up that way."

"I'm a meteor mutant. My mom's mentally ill. How can I...people leave, Kal-El. I loved my mom and she left. I loved Clark and he's gone. If I say it out loud, you'll leave like they did."

"Never, Sull-I-Van. I shall be here for centuries to come."

"I know but what if I...if I end up like my mom, then you should leave me. I'm going to be just like her. It's what I saw. I'll grow up to be just like her and then I can't keep you."

He held her close then, rocking and shushing her. "Sull-I-Van, you are not going to go mad and I will never leave. I can never leave you."

"But if I got sick..."

"You won't be."

"I do care about you, but they leave, Kal-El. God, I might go somewhere, be trapped in that chair with the jacket pinning down my arms. I might not even be sane at all. I can't...I'm just scared."

"I love you, Sull-I-Van, and I am sorry. I did not understand. I thought it was about me."

"It's because Kryptonians are all self-centered."

"I may be at that."

"But it's not you. I can't live without you. I need you and I care about you but you picked a crappy fiance. I shouldn't have let you do it."

He leaned over and kissed her. "You cannot 'let' me do anything. I chose you because you are strong and I could always feel that. You are not your mother."

"I could be."

He kissed her again and squeezed her tight. "But you are not. I shall not leave you ever."

"And if I can help it, me neither."

"Then we have a pact."

She nodded and traced her fingers over the watch on her wrist. "I think we do."

"Kal-El, Chloe, you're both doing better," Martha chirped, smiling at both of them. Chloe frowned at the other woman. Her smile was too big, her tone too happy for someone who had just gone through what they just had.

Something was wrong.

"Martha?"

"Kal-El, baby, can you go get me a wrench from the barn. The sink's backing up again and your father wanted to look at it."

He frowned. "Mother, I can always help you with that."

Martha nodded and reached over and hugged him tightly. If he'd been human, he would have been suffocating. "I know and you're so good about everything. I love you."

Kal-El nodded and kissed her cheek. "This is because I did something incredibly stupid this afternoon. I understand."

"Yes, don't do anything to put yourself in that position anymore," she chided. "I do love you very much."

"Were you listening in?"

"No but a mother can guess what her child's dreaming about. Baby, go and get the wrench okay?"

"Fine. I shall even do it in human speed and not listen in since I suspect that you are both plotting ways to keep me from rushing into certain peril."

"I am onboard for that," Chloe replied, sighing as Kal-El exited out the back door. "Spill, Martha, something's wrong."

Martha nodded. "I had a nightmare."

"It wasn't about killer tomatoes or maybe a vampire was it?"

She shook her head. "No, it was about Kal-El."

Chloe felt sick. "You'd never think that he'd be dangerous."

"Not now, no. Of course not. I just...Clark was there too."

"I don't understand."

"Chloe, am I a bad mother?"

She gaped at the other woman. Martha was the mother she'd always wanted, one of the reasons she'd been so envious of both Clark and of Kal-El. She'd taken in both of them and cared for them, no matter how many odd powers sprung up. How could she even ask that now?

"How do you mean?"

"Jor-El made me choose. I can't have them both. Kal-El came back and I can't kill him, anymore than you could. He's my son."

"I know."

"But so is Clark. What kind of mother lets her son be trapped somewhere when she knows if she could change it. I can't...I promised to take care of both of them and I failed with Clark. He needed me and I can't save him."

"I can't help him either."

"Do you think the Fortress could do something? Is it possible for it to split them safely. It's not about getting rid of Kal-El. I just can't live feeling like I betrayed Clark. I mean, what if he does know what's happening? What if it hurt him? I need to save him."

"Martha, I'll go and talk to Jor-El. I'll see what I can do, but it might take some time. If I go, Kal-El needs to be distracted. I don't want him to know, to think we're trying to replace him."

"I'm not, but I can't leave my son trapped somewhere. I can't hurt Kal-El and I won't, but I can't leave Clark suffering either." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Please help me."

"I will, but this isn't about hurting Kal-El, is it? Because Jor-El won't get rid of him."

"It's not. I just...I promised both of them and I'm _failing _."

"Martha, you're not. You're the best mother I know. I wish my mom had been like you."

Martha hugged her. "Well, since you're family now. You're the only one I'd trust to care for Kal-El."

"Thanks. So, is Jonathan okay? You were down here with him for a while."

"His nightmare was about Kal-El."

"He's sad that Clark's buried too?" Chloe asked, hoping against logic that was all it was.

"No, he still thinks that this is a trick from Jor-El. He's afraid of what Kal-El will do."

"Did you tell him he was being an idiot and that Kal-El would never hurt anyone?"

"I did that, loudly and with threats of him sleeping on the sofa, but the dream made everything more real to him. He was getting better. He at least was willing to have Kal-El around on the farm, to have him spend time with us. But the nightmare...I don't think Kal-El should come back here for a few weeks. I'll come to Metropolis, every day if he wants, but I just need to work on Jonathan some more."

"Where is Jonathan?"

"He was supposed to be getting a few things out of the truck, some of the doctor's bills and what not. He should be back soon."

Kal-El chuckled to himself as he sat out on the bales by the barn. He had the wrench but he was wasting time, giving mother and Sull-I-Van a chance to talk, to most likely worry over him. It was easier, in the light of day, to push his fears aside. Sull-I-Van did care for him and she needed him. He was going to care for her, keep her safe, even from herself.

It was only the poison that had plagued him so badly.

He had a family.

Perhaps he even had more than his mother and Sull-I-Van, if he worked at it.

Jonathan Kent was walking toward him and Kal-El quirked his head at the other man. "Jonathan, I am relieved that you are alright. You passed out while driving and I was able to get you both into the hospital safely."

"Are you really?"

Kal-El paused. "Despite my own stubborness, I do not wish you harm. As I have said, you took care of us as well. Had you not looked after me when I was little, then I would not be here. I do remember whom I owe."

"I'm aware of that." His tone was harsh and Kal-El was confused. He thought that they'd been coming to some accord earlier.

"I do not understand. I thought-"

"Kal-El, I appreciate that you helped me with Martha, but I don't want you on the farm anymore."

"What?"

"Please, after you go to see Lois. Don't come back." And with that, Jonathan Kent, turned his back on him and walked back to the little yellow house that, once, had been Kal-El's home.


End file.
